An Unexpected Ally
by Slowerthanzero
Summary: Not long after XANA had succeeded in destroying Lyoko and capturing William, the Lyoko warriors are able to reconstruct Lyoko to begin their search for Aelita's father and a way to bring William home. However, strange things happen on Lyoko and they soon find themselves aided by the most unexpected source. Is this source really what it seems? Or is there something else behind it?
1. The Prologue

**I forgot to mention before that this story is set in the 4th season after Lyoko is reconstructed yet still before the development of the Skidbladnir. This fanfic also ignores Evolution as I really only watched a few episodes of it so it is really based on the original cartoon. **

**However, you are free to envision it either way you like as you have the right to enjoy it whichever way you please. ;3**

* * *

><p>"Be careful guys, X.A.N.A. has sent you four bloks and a krabe to contend with," Jeremie's voice warns as he watches blips on his screen move in closer to the gang.<p>

"Read ya loud and clear, Jeremie!" Odd calls back from the top of his overboard, flying fast across the ice sector. "Laser arrow!" He exclaims, hitting one of the bloks directly in the eye. The wounded blok shakes violently before exploding into individual pieces. "Yes!" He cheers, getting excited about the successful shot.

"Watch out guys, that krabe is coming up fast!" Jeremie warns.

"Thanks, Jeremie," Yumi replies. She readies herself and faces the oncoming krabe. She opens her fans and throws them both at the krabe. The krabe ducks the first fan but the second barely catches it, making a scratch as it glances off its shell. The monster focuses on her and growls irritably.

"Nice try, Yumi. Now let me show ya how it's done!" Odd shouts as he flies towards the krabe. "Come on Cyrus! Come and get me!" He taunts and shoots a laser arrow at it. The attack hits the krabe right above its leftmost upper light, doing little more than chipping a bit of the shell and disabling the light.

"Is that it? I thought you were going to show me how it's done?" Yumi mocks. Odd only crosses his arms and looks frustrated.

"Odd, are you seriously _still_ naming the monsters?" Ulrich asks, giving his friend a disapproving tired expression.

"Well of course, it gives them personality and character," Odd replies back as he pulls up on the front end of the overboard so he could turn around and have another go at the krabe.

"Well, I hope you're ready to part ways with personality and character," Ulrich chuckles, gesturing to the krabe and one of the bloks in front of him. He speeds forward on the overbike, overtaking Odd's lead, and maneuvers swiftly behind the bloks where the krabe was quickly gaining ground. He draws both of his swords and points them upward as he starts to drive under the krabe ready to stab it from underneath.

"Hey watch out!" Odd yells. The warning comes too late for Ulrich as a laser from a nearby blok hits the overbike, causing it to spin out of control and Ulrich tumbles off onto the ground. The krabe Ulrich had aimed for moves back and growls.

"Boys," Aelita says and rolls her eyes. "This is how you _really_ get something done! Energy field!" She shouts, firing at one of the bloks. The attack engulfs and destroys it immediately.

"Nice one, Aelita." Jeremie says.

"You okay, Ulrich?" Yumi calls out in his direction.

"Yeah, I'm alright, but I don't think I can say as much for my ride," Ulrich replies, watching as his vehicle continues to spin as it slides off the edge of the sector and into the digital sea below. Before anything else, a scream fills the air.

"Aelita!" Jeremie shouts in obvious panic. William had suddenly appeared within a cloud of supersmoke and now had the girl trapped with his power. The krabe that had seemed to be engaging Ulrich suddenly rises up and turns away from him, then quickly bolts off with Odd directly in its path as it barrels forward.

"Yeah! Laser arrow!" Odd exclaims as he shoots an arrow and rolls out of the way of the monster's trampling claws, seeming to be obliviously engaged in combat with his opponent.

"Odd, quit fooling around, Aelita's in trouble! Wait- huh?" Ulrich says. His eyes follow the krabe, which ignores Odd and continues to dash forward, knocking a blok over on its way past. Not slowing down, it piles through a second, shoving it to the side and nearly off the edge of the sector. The second blok frantically scurries away from the edge and looks in varying directions seeming to be just as confused as Ulrich.

"Hey! Wait a minute! I'm over here!" Odd shouts as he slowly gets up off the ground, watching the krabe and holds his arm up ready to fire a laser arrow at the creature. The krabe slides to a stop a short distance behind William and growls firmly. Odd, about to fire, suddenly stops when he realizes what is happening. "Huh? Whoa… What's it doing?" He asks quietly and slowly lowers his arm.

"Wait… Is it actually-?" Yumi asks, and slows to a stop, stunned by disbelief of what she sees.

"Hey am I seeing this right, or is that krabe actually firing at William?" Jeremie asks to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him. Enraged at being caught off guard by the krabe's attack William glares at the monster and charges forward to cleave the monster in two with his sword.

"You're seeing it right, Jeremie. It appears… to be saving Aelita?" Ulrich replies, watching William and the krabe fight, unsure if he should do anything to help and is honestly more interested in just seeing what happens.

"I- I'm certainly not complaining, but... Why?" Jeremie asks, just as confused as the rest of his friends. The krabe narrowly sidesteps out of the way of William's zanbato. It continues backing up as quickly as possible to avoid the slow even swings of the weapon. It fires it laser multiple times, a couple of which manage to hit William but most are deflected by his sword. Seeing how everyone else seemed more interested in watching the spectacle rather than doing anything, Yumi decides to take advantage of the situation and throws both of her fans at William.

Catching the motion from the corner of his eye William quickly turns and swings his sword upward, easily deflecting the two fans in one stroke. Two lasers suddenly strike him from behind reducing him to nothing but smoke. With X.A.N.A.'s human pet gone, the power holding Aelita also dissipated.

"Whoa. Something is seriously off with that krabe, it just fought off William! I'm starting to feel kinda bad for firing at it now," Odd says, looking back at his friends.

"Aelita... Are you alright?" Jeremie asks with concern. Aelita sits up holding one hand to her head for a minute before responding.

"I'm alright, Jeremie. Thanks for the help, guys," Aelita says with a relieved sigh and gets to her feet.

"Hey, I appreciate the thanks but it wasn't us who saved you this time," Ulrich replies.

"Yeah, save your thanks for that krabe—huh where'd it go?" Odd says as he turns to point at the krabe but notices that it had disappeared.

"Huh... Looks like 'Cyrus' had more important things to do," Ulrich replies, looking in the direction the krabe had been.

"Come on. You can't really expect me to believe that can you?" Aelita replies with a skeptical look.

"It's true! It really did save you," Yumi replies. "You can even ask Jeremie if you don't believe us!"

"Right. So then where did it go?" Aelita asks.

"The others are right, Aelita. The krabe attacked William, and now it's nowhere on my screen," Jeremie replies. "It just vanished."

"That mysterious krabe just saved you," Ulrich adds.

"That's so very strange. But why?" Aelita asks.

"No idea. I'm still having a hard time believing it myself," Yumi replies. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, that is."

"Well, Nevermind that now. We still have a tower to deactivate," Jeremie states.

"Yeah, It should be easier; we only have two more-" Ulrich starts, as he stabs the overturned blok next to him, "- one more to go."

Yumi threw her fans at the remaining blok, successfully destroying it. "And now it's zero." Ulrich suddenly tumbles forward forcefully and is devirtualized the instant he hits the ground. Odd and Yumi turn around quickly to see another couple of bloks approaching from behind them.

"Guys watch out! X.A.N.A. just sent two more bloks your way," Jeremie warns.

"Yeah, Ulrich just got devirtualized!" Yumi replies.

"Aelita, Head for the tower while Odd and Yumi take care of the bloks," Jeremie instructs. Aelita nods and starts running for the tower.

"Alright, it's a two-on-two battle now, sounds fair. Laser arrow!" Odd exclaims, but completely misses the blok. The blok Odd just fired at spins around and faces him then fires a freeze laser at him, freezing him solid. Ulrich sighs as he exits the scanner and takes the elevator up to the lab.

"Odd, be careful. You don't have a lot of life points left," Jeremie says. A couple more normal lasers from the blok hit Odd and the ice imprisoning him breaks, freeing him. He tumbles over, and fires a laser arrow at the blok.

"Take that!" he exclaims. The arrow hits the blok, shattering it; its remains disappear after hitting the ground. "Phew," He sighs and looks to see that Yumi had already taken care of the other blok and gives her a thumbs up. "Your turn, Aelita," He says, more to himself; watching as she rushes into the tower.

Aelita levitates up to the top platform, lighting down on the edge and walks to the center. In response to her presence, a blue panel pops up. She places her hand on it where her name flashes for a second then displays the word 'Code'. Inputting 'Lyoko', the tower deactivates.

"Alright, Good job everyone. I'll bring you all back in now," Jeremie says, running the devirtualization program on Yumi, Odd, and Aelita. Odd appears in the scanner room as the two other scanners continue to make noise. Yumi and Aelita step out of their scanners a moment later and the three join up with Jeremie and Ulrich in the lab.

"Alright, job well done. Tower deactivated, nobody got hurt, and we even had X.A.N.A. on our side!" Odd says.

"X.A.N.A. is on nobody's side but his own," Jeremie responds.

"Then how do you explain what happened on Lyoko today?" Ulrich retorts.

"It was probably just some kind of computer glitch," Jeremie replies.

"Computer glitch? What kind of glitch would make the enemy the hero?" Odd asks.

"That sounds like one heck of a glitch to me," Ulrich says, not quite sure himself.

"It could be part of X.A.N.A.'s plan," Aelita says.

"Which we stopped, right guys?" Yumi asks.

"Hmm. If it was part of his plan, what good would he have gotten out of saving Aelita from himself? That doesn't make any sense," Jeremie replies, focusing on the supercomputer screen intently.

"Who knows? Maybe X.A.N.A. is going haywire and might even turn into our friend," Odd jokes.

"Odd, remind me to remind you that X.A.N.A. is the bad guy in this monster movie," Jeremie replies. "Well anyway," He starts as he logs off the supercomputer, "I guess we're done here. Which is good; I'm starved."

"Yeah, I'm so hungry, I could eat a cow!" Odd exclaims.

"You always could, noting your bottomless stomach," Ulrich replies, as they headed to the elevator.

"And I think I'm going to do some digging around after dinner tonight. See what X.A.N.A. might be up to. Just in case," Jeremie says.

"Alright, I guess we'll all stop by the cafeteria for dinner then?" Yumi asks.

"Sounds good," Ulrich says.

"Yeah. I hope they got a meatball hero prepared for me!" Odd exclaims.

"You mean twelve?" Yumi jokes. The rest of the gang laughs as the elevator doors close.

**This is just a short little introduction to the story each real 'chapter' will be like an episode in the show and will be much longer. **

**Also, feel free to comment and review! Your input might actually influence the story a little bit! **

**Till next time guys. ;)**


	2. Ep 1 - A Strange Occurrence Part 1-3

Odd ravenously engulfs a taco as he blathers on about another episode of 'Hospital of Horrors'; all with his mouth stuffed full of food. "Anff when he thried tho fuse the lithzard bhraim im the.," He swallows, "... robot, it began to act just like an iguana! So he tried putting..," He takes another bite. ".. a human brain in it, and—" He is quickly interrupted by Ulrich.

"I'm not sure whether to be amazed or repulsed at this feat of multitasking," He says with a grimace.

"So Jeremie, find anything new?" Aelita asks to distract herself from Odd trying to shove his third taco into his mouth. Jeremie just shakes his head.

"No, nothing at all. It's been a week since the incident with that weird krabe and still nothing comes up, no matter how hard I look," Jeremie replies, seeming almost worried by the lack of information he could dig up.

"You're still hung up on that? I think if you haven't found anything after all this time, then it had to just be a fluke," She replies to try to dissuade Jeremie from worrying about it so much.

"That's an awfully weird fluke if you ask me," Jeremie sighs, not seeming to be completely convinced.

"You think that maybe the krabe wasn't X.A.N.A.'s, then?" Ulrich asks.

"Um, you do realize what you said just there, right? About that whole 'krabe wasn't X.A.N.A.'s' deal?" He replies, skeptically.

"Come on, Jeremie, you know what I mean. It could have been Franz Hopper. He could have taken control of the monster and sent it to help Aelita. It wouldn't be the first time he's done something like that," Ulrich says though he was mainly thinking about the time Franz had controlled a manta to help Aelita get to what they thought were her real memories, just before X.A.N.A. nearly destroyed Lyoko.

"I guess that's possible, but something seems strange," He says, deep in thought.

"If it was him, then why didn't he stick around?" Aelita asks, her tone and expression both deflating. Ulrich shrugs, noticing that the girl seemed to be rather sensitive about the topic and was unsure what to say that would not just upset her further.

"Maybe he didn't have enough strength to stay," Odd says, seeming suddenly aware of their conversation.

"Yeah.. Maybe," Aelita replies quietly, trying not to let the others see that she was upset. Jeremie notices, however, and pats her on the shoulder comfortingly. They had been searching for a way to find her father for a while but they had not managed to find any new information in what felt like an eternity. It was obvious that it was really eating away at the pink-haired girl's mind.

"It'll be okay. We'll find him," Jeremie says. Aelita nods and whispers a 'thank you' as Jeremie catches a tear that escapes from her eye.

"Anyway, there's a 'Hospital of Horrors' marathon beginning tonight at seven and ending at midnight! Anyone else wanna watch it?" Odd asks, changing the topic completely in an attempt to liven the mood.

"Staying up 'till midnight watching a sci-fi horror marathon? No, thanks. Oh, and don't be keeping me up all night, either. Progress reports go out next week, and I want my father to be proud when he sees an improvement, even if it's minor," Ulrich says, as he tries to repress thoughts of strong discontent from his father for just about everything he does.

"Well, I'll keep the volume turned dow-" an alarm from Jeremie's laptop interrupts Odd mid-sentence. "Oh come on! Can't X.A.N.A. wait 'till after lunch? I didn't even get breakfast this morning!"

"Yeah, no thanks to the six dozen eggs up and smashing on the floor. I swear that was the clumsiest I've ever seen Rosa," Jeremie says. He quickly reaches for his laptop and checks the super scan.

"So I really want to finish my lunch, uninterrupted by X.A.N.A., or anything else for that matter," Odd adds.

"Can it, will ya? Would you rather be eating dead or live without breakfast and lunch for a day?" Ulrich replies.

"I'll die either way; either by X.A.N.A. or from starvation!" Odd exclaims dramatically and plops his head forward onto the table in his exasperation just barely missing his lunch tray.

"Oh, gimme a break and drop the taco! We've got to get going," Ulrich says.

"There is a slight chance that it could be a false alarm, but we can't be certain; all for going to the supercomputer say aye!" Jeremie says and raises his hand.

"Aye!" Ulrich and Aelita say one after another and raise their hands as well.

"Nay!" Odd says, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ulrich grabs Odd's arm and holds it up. "You mean, Aye," he says, trying to wrench his arm to make him surrender.

"Ow, ow, owowOW! Aye! AYE! AYE!" Odd shouts, succumbing to the pain.

"That's better," Ulrich says, smiling at the victory and he releases his friend's arm.

"Then it's settled. We're all going to the factory to check it out. If we're lucky, X.A.N.A. won't be up to anything," Aelita says.

"Alright, let's head out of here," Jeremie says and picks up his bag containing his laptop.

"One of you guys call Yumi and let her know," He finishes. Ulrich nods and immediately dials Yumi's phone while the others slip out of the cafeteria and towards the Kadic Woods. Yumi is in the supermarket when her phone rings. She glances down and picks it up.

"Hello? Oh hey, Ulrich," Yumi says and pins the phone between her ear and her shoulder while she reaches up to grab a loaf of bread.

"Yumi, Jeremie has picked up potential X.A.N.A. activity. We could use your help at the factory," Ulrich replies as he runs and hastily climbs down the ladder into the sewers following the rest.

"Huh? Great, I guess the milk and break can wait. I hope my parents won't be too angry," Yumi replies. She drops the items currently in her hands and leaves her shopping basket where it is as she bolts out of the store. A few customers grumble in their annoyance when she rushes past them.

Odd had quickly taken the lead and beat Ulrich, Jeremie and Aelita to the factory entrance. "Come on, slow pokes! What's taking you so long?" He calls, poking his head back into the manhole.

"For someone so reluctant to come, you sure are quick to mouth off," Aelita replies as she and Ulrich make it to the ladder.

"Yeah, well I got a bone to pick with X.A.N.A.," Odd calls back.

"For interrupting lunch?" Ulrich asks, un-amused.

"Precisely!" Odd replies and swings down to the lower level using a rope. The others follow quickly after and soon arrive at the lab via the elevator.

"I wonder what X.A.N.A. has in store for us this time?" Aelita asks with a look of discontent on her face.

"Nothing good as always, I'm sure," Odd replies.

"I haven't seen any signs of an attack so far so I think we should check for an activated tower before we all go to Lyoko. Just in case the super scan is giving us a false positive. It's been rather fussy recently," Jeremie replies as he situates himself in the chair.

"And if you don't find anything?" Ulrich asks.

"Then I'll have to see why the super scan program bugged up. Either way, it's best for us to be on the ready," Jeremie says. The doors to the elevator open with a hiss and Yumi steps into the room.

"We'll be ready, although I don't know how well I'll hold up without a full belly," Odd complains.

"What's his problem?" Yumi asks as the elevator opens. She walks out and joins the group near the supercomputer.

"Oh hey, great timing, Yumi. And Odd is just mad because X.A.N.A. didn't plan his attack at a convenient time for him to finish eating," Ulrich says, giving her a brief summary of what happened.

"Oh. Well Odd, I think you'll survive," Yumi replies and gives him a forceful pat on the shoulder to which he only sighs in response. Jeremie begins running the super scan on the terminal and it soon finds an activated tower.

"Looks like it was right this time, X.A.N.A. is on the offensive," Jeremie says.

"Then let's go before he has a chance to direct an attack on Earth," Aelita says.

"Yeah, speaking of which, isn't it kinda weird that we haven't seen or heard anything yet?" Ulrich asks.

"Let's hope things stay that way until we... de..activ..," Jeremie trails off, staring at the screen. A grid of the desert sector shows up with three red blips on it, two seeming to be engaged in combat with the third. "What th- This is... interesting..," Jeremie starts, typing commands and pressing keys to get more information on the blips.

"Something wrong, Jeremie?" Yumi asks, wondering if she should be worried as she waits for a response.

"Well, yes- well, no- well- I- I dunno," Jeremie starts, dazed and confused at the sight on the screen. "Give me a minute…" He says as he analyzes the information. He then blinks a couple of times, unable to believe what he sees. "I don't believe this, but uh.. X.A.N.A. is attacking his own monsters!" he exclaims.

"Waitwaitwait- You mean to tell me that our enemy is our hero... yet AGAIN? I think this thing's got a few screws loose," Odd says, removing a loose screw from behind Jeremie's monitor.

"Hey, put that back!" Jeremie says, as his screen starts showing vertical and horizontal lines as if a cable came loose.

"Oh... Okay," Odd says, as he replaces the screw, and turns it a couple turns and the display corrects itself.

"Not like X.A.N.A. doing our job for us is a bad thing, but things just don't usually happen this easily," Yumi adds.

"It appears to be a group of three krabes and this looks like a rendezvous for trouble," Jeremie says and pulls up the activated tower scan.

"I bet without a doubt it's a trap. He's going to lure us in with a bewildering sight, and capture us, like a fly to a flytrap flower. He can sacrifice monsters no problem for that," Ulrich comments.

"I'm not sure. What if we just ignored him? I don't think he would lay a trap that we might possibly just leave alone," Jeremie finishes.

"But he knows that we would never ignore an activated tower," Aelita adds but Jeremie only replies with a 'hmm'.

"Huh. This does seem rather weird. Maybe X.A.N.A.'s monsters are going on strike because he's always losing to us?" Yumi chuckles, entertained by the mere thought.

"I say, we go to Lyoko, get rid of the krabes, and get Aelita safely to the tower before X.A.N.A. pulls anything," Ulrich says.

"Well, I am a bit curious to see how this all turns out," Odd says, still watching the screen.

"Odd, they're krabes. They're controlled by X.A.N.A., X.A.N.A. is evil, and those krabes are evil. We have no time to sit and wait while we watch a drama unfold," Ulrich replies and immediately heads to the elevator.

"Uhh, I guess you're right," Odd says reluctantly and follows the others. Everyone except Jeremie files into the elevator and Yumi sends it down to the scanner room. Odd and Ulrich walk into the scanners first.

"Man, am I hungry," Odd whimpers.

Aelita just shakes her head as she steps into the last scanner. "Jeremie we're ready to go,"

"Transfer Aelita. Transfer Odd. Transfer Ulrich," Jeremie says and the scanner doors close. "Scanner Aelita, Scanner Odd, Scanner Ulrich," He continues, typing out the commands. "Virtualization!" he says and Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich arrive in the desert sector. Yumi steps up to the scanners next.

"Transfer Yumi. Scanner Yumi. Virtualization!" Jeremie says and Yumi joins the others on the barren landscape of the sector. "I've detected the tower due southwest, at the far end of the sector," He states.

"Thanks, Jeremie," Aelita replies and looks around. She spots the three krabes nearby a large stone arch with a few sand dunes scattered around the otherwise flat ground.

"Hey, Yumi. Ready to go kick some krabe carapace?" Ulrich says, remembering the word from science class that morning.

"You bet!" Yumi replies then turns her attention to the group of krabes and takes out her fans, readying them for combat.

"Wow they sure don't seem to notice us here at all, do they?" Aelita asks, noting that the krabes were still fighting regardless of their group standing there.

"Cool! Looks like a bar side brawl!" Odd comments, punching into the air like a boxer as he watches the three krabes fight. Two of the krabes are clearly ganging up on the third and seem to be doing substantial damage to it.

"Yeah, but isn't two against one kinda unfair?" Yumi asks.

"In a street fight, there are no rules," Odd adds casually in response.

"But, you said bar fight," Yumi replies, confused.

"Same difference," Odd shrugs.

"Internal strife, huh? That's pretty pathetic. I'd have expected better from a super-intelligent computer... I thought fighting with yourself was obsolete?" Ulrich muses as the two other krabes simultaneously shoot the third and it staggers backward.

"I don't understand; why would they be fighting each other?" Aelita asks after a short pause.

"I don't know, but I'm about to help end it. Super sprint!" Ulrich shouts as he dashes over to the group of monsters and Odd follows him. Aelita shrugs then she and Yumi run to catch up with Odd and Ulrich. The weakened krabe growls and stumbles backward after being hit from a couple of lasers. The other two krabes each raise one of their claws and bring them down hard on its shell, which dented and tore under the pressure of the attack. Odd's pace slows down as he stares at the scene and Ulrich speeds in front of him.

"Impact!" Ulrich yells as he takes the group of monsters by surprise and jumps onto the back of the weakened krabe and uses it like a springboard to launch himself up to one of the two standing and drives his swords into its back. The strike instantly finishes the creature and as it dematerializes in an explosion of pixels he jumps off and lands a slicing blow across the other one, destroying it as well. He then lands back on top of the first one.

"Say your prayers, krabe," He taunts as he raises his blades high for the finishing blow while Odd only stares blankly at the monster. Weakened from the battering it had received from the other two krabes, it gives a defeated sounding growl and makes no further attempt to move or fight back against him, lying nearly motionless. Odd snaps out of his trance and quickly looks at Ulrich with his swords held above the krabe, then to the krabe itself, then back to Ulrich.

"WAIT!" Odd shouts. Startled, Ulrich stops mid-strike just before piercing the monster's shell.

"Odd, what's up?" Ulrich asks, confused by his friend's sudden outburst.

"Don't destroy it…" Odd says, with almost an air of sadness, and at the same time despair, assuming that it will be anyway regardless of what he said.

"Hey, have you flipped your lid? It's just a krabe," Ulrich replies with an expression of shock.

"Yeah, Odd. What's the deal?" Yumi asks, wondering what could possibly be wrong with him.

"Can't you see it's given up? I don't think it has the energy to fight anymore, not after being trampled on by its buddies just now," Odd protests.

Ulrich looks surprised by Odd's response. "What has gotten into you? Are you being controlled by X.A.N.A. or something?" He asks, still somewhat ready to strike.

"Of course not! I just… kinda feel bad for it. I mean look at it, it's completely defenseless," Odd replies and takes a step closer but the krabe does not budge, however, its lights flicker briefly.

"Huh? Whoa!" Ulrich shouts when the krabe underneath him suddenly starts to move its left fore claw and shakes a little as it tries to gather up the strength to stand. He quickly jumps off and tentatively holds his swords in front of himself, pointing them at the krabe as it shakily stands to its full height. "That doesn't exactly look defenseless."

"Ulrich, put your swords away, you'll scare the poor thing," Odd says, almost shooing Ulrich.

"Don't scare it? I don't think that _thing_ is scared of us," Ulrich replies though relaxes his stance a bit.

"Poor thing? -It- is a machine. A heartless, cold pile of springs, sprockets, gears, ratchets, nuts and bolts all enslaved by X.A.N.A.," Yumi replies and the krabe starts to back up slowly.

"Hey don't go! They didn't mean it like that! You do seem a bit more warm and lively than most krabes I know," Odd says, noticing the retreating monster. The krabe stops underneath the stone arch and does not re-approach the group, seeming to be watching them warily. The krabe growls weakly then tilts itself slightly; looking like it was interested in their group standing around nearby. It growls again, slightly louder this time.

"Whoa, is it... trying to talk to us?" Odd asks, seeming amazed.

"Man I thought he was nuts before, but this brings it to a whole new level," Ulrich says, making a circular motion with his index finger while pointing at his head.

"Hey it's alright; I'm not going to hurt you," Odd says as he approaches the krabe cautiously then holds out his hand, as if trying to befriend an injured animal.

"Hey guys? What exactly is going on out there? Get rid of the monster and head for the tower," Jeremie says.

"Odd has completely lost it, Jeremie. Somehow he's got it in his mind that we shouldn't destroy it," Ulrich replies.

"What? Odd, come on snap out of it. That thing is our enemy if you've forgotten," Jeremie says, watching his screen.

"Calm down, Einstein… I know what I'm doing," Odd replies and stops directly in front of the krabe. The monster growls lightly at the boy's approach.

"Huh, yeah sure. Know what you're doing my foot. Out of the way, Odd. I'm taking this thing down," Ulrich says then walks up to the krabe with his weapons ready to slice it in two.

"No! Wait Ulrich! Don't do that!" Odd shouts and quickly puts his hands on his friend's shoulders and pushes him away.

"Hey what are you doing?" Ulrich replies shocked that his friend is actually trying to protect the monster.

"But it's not every day you meet a krabe like this. I mean, look! It's not even attacking us!" Odd replies, finding whatever excuse he could.

"Besides. Don't you guys remember that crazy krabe from last time? You know, the one that took down William, saving Aelita?" He continues then turns back to face the krabe again. He steps even closer to it, extending his hand to it once more, like a friendly greeting to a good friend. The krabe freezes in its place, seeming to be unsure what to make of the human coming so close and gives a wary sounding growl.

"Yeah? What of it?" Ulrich asks.

"Well maybe this one is nice too," Odd says simply.

"Sure we remember, but that was just a one-time fluke... right?" Yumi asks, looking to the others for confirmation.

"I don't know. Maybe Odd has a point. This one hasn't really acted like a normal krabe either," Aelita shrugs.

"Okay, I'll admit. This is pretty amazing... But..," Ulrich adds, trailing off, unsure what to think. The krabe continues to stand motionless, whether from caution, or interest, it was hard to tell. Its sensors moved from each member, analyzing them before finally stopping on Odd for a few long moments.

"Hey come on, my arm is getting tired. You gonna come over here or what?" Odd asks, still holding his hand out for some kind of a response from the monster.

"I'm gonna laugh when he gets shot," Ulrich says flatly. After another long moment, the krabe steps forward again, getting fairly close to Odd. It reaches out with its left foreleg and barely taps his palm with the back of its claw then scrambles back underneath the arch and tries to hide itself halfway behind the right side.

"Well would you look at that! It's friendly," Odd says, his mouth broadening into a smile. "And a little shy too," He adds, noticing how the monster now seemed to be trying to hide.

"F- Fr- Friendly?! Ijxlqbaf," Ulrich exclaims as he shakes his head, scrambling for words in disbelief.

"I don't believe this, this is the strangest thing I've ever seen," Aelita says. She then remembers their conversation at lunch. "Jeremie, what if it's my father?"

"You think a krabe is your father? You've really lost it Aelita," Odd replies, giving her a weird look as though he thought she was completely nuts.

"You're one to talk, Odd," Ulrich retorts quickly and Odd grins sheepishly in response.

"I don't know. If it is him controlling it, wouldn't it be more interested in Aelita than Odd?" Yumi asks.

"And I don't think he'd be hiding behind a pillar from us either," Ulrich adds, seeing the krabe peeking out at them.

"Hmm I think you guys are right, none of this adds up. I'm not detecting a white tower either and I really don't see why Franz Hopper would be all that interested in talking to Odd over Aelita anyway," Jeremie says, "No offense, Odd,"

"None taken, I wouldn't really be interested in talking to some old geezer anyway," Odd retorts lightly.

"So no white tower means it's not Aelita's father, so then what's stopping it from just doing the X.A.N.A. thing and attacking us? It's mostly just… Staring at us," Yumi says, feeling a bit unnerved.

"It's in Sun Tzu's book 'The Art of War'. It basically says that the best soldiers make themselves look weak, and hold their first opportunity to strike, awaiting the next,"

Ulrich says in reply to Yumi. "We had to read that for Pencak Silat," he adds, now watching the krabe that had moved a little closer to them during their conversation and now seems intently focused on them.

"Ulrich might be on to something. It could be a trick," Jeremie adds.

"I think you're both wrong. I really don't think she wants to hurt anyone," Odd replies, walking right up close to the krabe and placing his hand on its claw.

"She? What's with this 'she' all of a sudden?" Yumi asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Hmm...We might have to ix-nay the abe-kray before Odd-ay gets even ore-may attatched-tay," He whispers to Yumi and Aelita whom both nod. The krabe stomps its left fore claw then growls quietly.

"I couldn't hear what you just said, but I think she did, and she didn't seem to like it," Odd says.

"Look... As cool as your krabe friend may seem, it looks like it's in a lot of pain... Its shell is buckling in, its been hit by four-or-five full-power krabe lasers, and its leftmost eye is burnt out... Maybe we should just put it out of its misery," Ulrich says, playing on Odd's concern for the monster.

"Aww.. But I think this one's sick of being controlled by X.A.N.A..." Odd replies, then turns to face the krabe. "Right? You think X.A.N.A. is un-cool too don't you?" He asks. The krabe makes a deep, long growl and stamps its left claw again forcefully.

"Odd, can you even hear yourself?" Aelita asks.

"Sorry... I just had to ask that to make it apparent to them that you're cool with us," Odd says to the krabe, ignoring Aelita. "See guys? She hates X.A.N.A.!" He adds, now facing the group again and pointing a thumb back towards the krabe.

"What are ya, some kind of krabe whisperer now?" Yumi asks, knowing that Odd is really just taking any response from the monster as a sign that it is actually trying to speak to them, much less actually agreeing with him. The krabe makes another low growl, sounding almost as though it were adding in its own opinion into the matter.

"I know right? These guys just don't understand you," Odd says to the krabe and nodding his head. The monster responds by nudging Odd on his back with the back of its left fore-claw.

"Hey, I think your krabe is trying to get your attention," Ulrich says, gesturing to the monster standing behind him.

"Since when was she -my- krabe?" Odd asks, getting flustered and not responding to the monster behind him.

"Since you decided to treat it like some kind of homeless animal," Yumi replies.

"Well, you're hurting her feelings," Odd says. The krabe makes a quick, sharp growl, which he takes as a sign of agreement with him. "See? What did I tell ya?" He adds, trying to prove his point.

Aelita snickers softly. "It sounds like he has a new girlfriend!" She says mockingly.

Yumi laughs along with her. "Gee Odd, I didn't know you swung that way!" She says with a grin, adding on to Aelita's joke.

Odd blushes from being both embarrassed and flustered by the comments and barely notices when the krabe starts nudging him repeatedly, becoming steadily more forceful with each shove.

"Well… She's hurt, and she isn't attackin- Whooa!" He shouts as he lands flat on his face, stirring up some dust as he crashes with a thud.

Ulrich tries to stifle his laughter but fails. "Okay, now I think I'm starting to warm up to your friend there," He laughs, fully enjoying Odd's little face plant.

"Hey, cut that out!" Odd shouts to the krabe as he picks himself up from the ground. The krabe immediately freezes for a moment then slowly draws back while making a very quiet low growl. It lowers itself closer to the ground and backs up a little more, appearing almost as if it were pouting from the scolding.

"Hey... You alright? I'm sorry; I didn't mean to shout," He adds apologetically.

"Guys, you do realize we still have a tower to deactivate right? We don't have time for all of this," Jeremie says.

"I know, Jeremie, but what do we do about this krabe?" Aelita asks, giving the krabe a strange look, to which it did not seem to respond.

"I don't know, but if X.A.N.A.'s plan was to distract us with that thing, then he's certainly been successful," Jeremie replies irritably. The krabe quickly turns in Ulrich's direction and growls.

"Hmph. Gonna fight me after all huh?" Ulrich asks and he readies his swords.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?" Odd asks, turning to the krabe. "You don't have to do this, you know?" He continues, suddenly worrying that his new friend might attack them after all. The krabe, however, seems to be too focused and refuses to respond to Odd. Ulrich takes his chance and lunges at the krabe, aiming to slice off its right claw. Despite its injuries, the krabe manages to move slightly to the left and makes a short deft flick with its right claw just soon enough to knock one of Ulrich's swords out of his grip; and it clatters to the ground behind him.

"Seems I was right. You're not as defenseless as you want us to believe," Ulrich says with a frown, pointing his remaining sword at the krabe.

"Cut it out, Ulrich! She's just defending herself!" Odd shouts uselessly. The girls, Yumi and Aelita, only sigh in frustration. After successfully disarming the one sword, the krabe gives the boy a firm growl then turns its attention back where it was before the interruption.

"Hey what are you looking at?" He asks, noticing it seemed to be distracted by something in the sky that was now slowly becoming visible in the distance.

"Looks like our pal X.A.N.A. is taking advantage of the distraction. He's sending a pair of hornets your way. Take them out quickly then get to that tower, we don't have any more time to waste with that krabe," Jeremie warns. Almost in response to Jeremie's voice, the krabe turns and readjusts itself. Its stance is shaky and its shell creaks and moans as it starts to move forward.

"And just where do you think you're running off to?" Ulrich asks as he quickly dashes over to reclaim his weapon and points it at the seemingly retreating krabe. The two hornets made no delay in firing their lasers once they were within range of the warriors. This quickly draws Ulrich's attention away from the krabe and with lightning quick reflexes; he deflects the lasers with swift turns of his swords. The hornets easily dodge the deflected shots and one of them flies away.

"Where's that chicken think he's going? Oh well, one less to deal with!" Odd shouts and fires an arrow at the remaining hornet but misses. "Rats! I just can't catch a break today!" He shouts.

"What's with you today?" Yumi mocks as she tosses a fan, which shreds through the hornet's body.

"Yeah, laugh all you want," Odd sighs.

"You're just mad because you know your game is, well, non-existent!" Ulrich laughs. "Ow! What the!" he shouts as the krabe suddenly bursts forward, plowing into him and knocking him flat on his back.

"Hey! Bad krabe! Sure, Ulrich was being mean earlier, but that was un-called for!" Odd shouts and wags a finger at it but freezes as soon as the sound of a laser tearing through metal hits his ears. The krabe collapses and does not move. Odd looks quickly to the sky to see the hornet that had flown away not long before, had returned.

"This is for my new friend!" Odd shouts angrily. "Laser Arrow!" The arrow hits its mark, and the Hornet erupts into a small flash of pixels.

"Man, what the heck was that about?" Ulrich asks as he stands up and 'dusts' himself off.

"That krabe just took a laser for you!" Aelita says, her mouth agape.

"What?" Ulrich asks in shock, and turns his attention to the lifeless monster in front of him. He remains silent. The fact the monster was willing to risk itself to help him humbled him a bit.

"Why would it give its life to protect Ulrich?" Jeremie asks in awe of what he had just seen.

"I don't know. But, it's not dead is it? It hasn't dematerialized yet," Yumi says.

"It seems that last shot it took didn't quite hit it directly on the mark on its back. It still has some life points left, but it's very few. It's in really bad shape so I doubt it will pose any further problem to you," Jeremie replies. Having felt reluctant to do so at first Odd slowly approaches the motionless krabe. He surveys the new damage to its shell, running his fingers lightly over the 'wound' then gently taps it above its lenses.

"Hey? You alright?" He asks shakily. "What did you do that for? You stupid crazy thing," He says quietly and waves his hand in front of it to try to get its attention but it does not move or make a sound. Odd sighs disappointingly.

"First a krabe saves Aelita, and now one takes a shot for Ulrich? This is insane," Yumi says, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, Odd. I guess all we can do now is take care of the tower," Aelita says, trying to get his mind off of it.

"Isn't there _something_ we can do?" Odd asks.

"I don't think there is anything we can do to save it," Ulrich replies solemnly. "Especially since you've made friends with it, X.A.N.A. might just decide to delete it or recycle it at any time," He adds, but he wasn't trying to be spiteful.

"Ulrich's right. As soon as we leave, there's no stopping X.A.N.A. from finishing it off. And you can't stay here forever to protect it either," Yumi adds. She was not trying to be mean either; she only wanted to tell it like it was and not give him false hope.

"Uhh well. What if we-" Odd starts but holds his tongue, afraid of what the others might say.

"What are you trying to suggest, Odd?" Aelita asks, unsure what he could possibly think would help the monster in its desperate condition.

"Well… What if we could take her back to Earth with us? Then she will be out of X.A.N.A.'s reach and he won't be able to hurt her anymore," Odd asks, knowing his friends were probably going to disapprove.

**This is the first part of episode 1. I didn't want to post it all in one big wall of text so it will be easier on you guys as readers. The next part will still have quite a few more words on it too and is longer than this portion.**

**Please enjoy and let me know what you think!**


	3. Ep 1 - A Strange Occurrence Part 2-3

"Oh no.. Nuh uh. That's going a bit far don't you think? Even if it did help us, we're not going to materialize her—it…" Ulrich replies, correcting himself and shaking his head. Odd rolls his eyes; it did not surprise him that the idea did not fly with him, but he hoped that at least one of his friends might finally agree with him.

"Hmm actually…" Jeremie starts , thinking aloud. "As crazy as it sounds, maybe it won't be such a bad idea," he finishes, pondering the situation despite his earlier reluctance.

"Have you suddenly caught Odd's crazy, Jeremie?" Ulrich asks; taken aback that Jeremie would even consider it.

"Well the way I see it is X.A.N.A. really seems to want to get rid of that krabe for some reason. It may not be Franz Hopper, but it might have useful information on him or even its master, X.A.N.A.," Jeremie says. "And any enemy of X.A.N.A.'s is certainly a friend of mine,"

"Jeremie does have a good point. X.A.N.A. does like to try to hide, or destroy things he doesn't want to get in his way," Aelita adds.

"And we are still in need of a new team member, especially after losing William," Jeremie says.

"And you want to put a krabe on our team?" Ulrich asks, skeptically.

"Yeah, that sounds like crazy talk to me," Yumi adds.

"And what if it goes back to serving X.A.N.A.?" Aelita asks.

"That's exactly it though. If it does, then X.A.N.A. gets his monster back, and we can act like nothing ever happened. It's a lot less risky than trying to recruit someone from school," Jeremie replies. He, likely as much as the rest of the group, certainly didn't want to risk having another case like William.

"Yeah okay, but one problem there. How do you plan to do it? Its too big for the scanners, they'll break," Ulrich says, reluctant to admit he was beginning to be slightly intrigued by this idea.

"Well we certainly can't materialize the krabe full size, that's for sure. On top of that, if it ever got curious and left the factory, it and our secret would be in danger," Jeremie says. The krabe begins to stir, exuding a low grumble of a growl as it begins trying to stand again, its shell creaking all the while.

"Whoa, hey! You're okay! But you shouldn't try to move; you need your rest," Odd says, holding his hands up in front of the krabe to try to get it to stop. He was surprised, but happy, that his new friend seemed to be okay and not completely down and out, but he certainly did not want it hurting itself with so few of its life points remaining. The monster seems to look at Odd and growls as if acknowledging him and stops moving but stays halfway standing. Comforted that his friend seemed to understand, Odd turns back to the rest of the group.

"Anyway, I'm thinking it might be possible to shrink the krabe down so that it's small enough to fit in the scanner," Jeremie continues, beginning to type on the keyboard.

"Are you sure that will work, Jeremie? And where would we keep it? We really can't have a krabe running around school, not even a small one," Yumi replies.

"Yumi's right, Even a tiny krabe could still injure someone," Aelita adds.

"We can keep it here in the factory," Jeremie replies.

"What if it gets bored or curious and leaves to explore? And we can't leave it in the computer lab because X.A.N.A. could take control of it and use it to destroy the terminal," Aelita objects.

"I don't want a little mini-krabe anyway... She might get scared sick if we're bigger than she is - she's already intimidated enough as it is," Odd says.

"Then perhaps I could materialize it in parts that'll fit in the scanners?" Jeremie contemplates aloud, forgetting about the issue of where to keep the monster and the potential that it could hurt someone.

"Yeah.. Um, right... Most of the time, my friends don't come with a 'some assembly required' label," Odd replies. "Although... I'm sure you're completely used to that."

"Ha ha, you're a riot, Odd," Jeremie replies sarcastically. "Look, I'm trying to help, but you're not giving me a whole lot of options to work with here," He says, rubbing his temples.

"Well sooory. I thought you were supposed to be the genius?" Odd retorts.

"At least_ I_ wouldn't be friends with a movie-monster zombie. I mean, eventually their limbs start falling off. That's _some _assembly there," Jeremie retaliates, jetting off a little of his irritation. "Hmm... Maybe I might be able to transform the krabe..." He adds, typing in some more commands into the computer to see if his theory might work.

"Into what? You just had your mind on zombies; that scares me a little when you say that," Odd replies, looking to the krabe with a bit of worry.

"Well, what if I could turn it into something like a dog, or a cat?" Jeremie asks, throwing out a few thoughts.

"Oh no, Jeremie, no pets. It's already hard enough hiding Kiwi from Jim, and I don't want to deal with sharing a room with another smelly animal," Ulrich complains, instantly shooting down that idea.

"Hey! My dog is not smelly! I bathe him almost every day," Odd combats in a bit of a huff.

"Almost? Try next to never. Though I wasn't talking about Kiwi," Ulrich snickers, implying that he was actually talking about him and the blonde gives him a mad scowl.

"Hmm... Well.." Jeremie starts. He remains silent for a moment, thinking of what they could do. He wasn't even quite sure why he was working so hard to figure it out either, curiosity perhaps. Although a pure interest to find out just what made the monster decide to help them was a definite factor. "There's nothing else I can do, unless…" He pauses, not sure if he was crazy enough to even mention what he was thinking.

"Unless what?" Odd asks, somewhat curious, but also a little fearful.

"Well... This is going to sound absolutely crazy but... What if I could-maybe change the krabe- into human form?" Jeremie says, adding to his earlier thoughts, voicing the only other idea he could think of.

"Are you nuts, Jeremie?" Aelita and Yumi ask in unison, unsure if he was serious, or joking, hoping for the latter.

"Actually I am serious. And come to think of it, it might actually work out best this way anyway. We wouldn't have to worry about where to keep it so it doesn't end up drawing attention or hurting anyone, and Odd gets to keep his strange new friend," Jeremie replies, convincingly.

"Yeah, but if it's human then what if it begins to serve its master again? Won't that complicate things? Would we really be able to just toss it back to Lyoko?" Aelita asks, worrying about the moral of the situation.

"Aelita's right and Odd seems rather fond of his friend as a krabe," Yumi adds, hoping that alone would derail Jeremie's current idea.

"We don't have to worry about that because she's not going to do that, and actually, I kinda like this idea. I mean, if it means she gets to live, then I'm fine with her being human," Odd replies and walks over to the monster, which is just standing shakily and quietly watching the others. When it notices Odd approaching it gives him an inquisitive growl and blinks its two working lights a couple of times.

"We're talking about bringing a whole new person to Earth though," Aelita says.

"Yeah, but we did the same thing for you, Aelita; and none of us regret that one bit. She'll be fine, I promise," Odd replies, still trying to convince his friends.

"Aelita isn't a monster though," Yumi replies, combating Odd's 'logic'.

"Having a pet krabe is one thing, but making it human is a whole other thing, we can't just decide this so quickly," Aelita replies.

"We really don't have time to just sit and think about it. Besides, Jeremie didn't take any time at all to decide he wanted to rescue you from the supercomputer," Odd says wryly with a wink, making the girl blush from his comment.

"We don't have time to sit here discussing it either, and yet, here we are. You really need to take this seriously, Odd," Jeremie counters.

"Quit worrying so much, Jeremie! Everything will be fine. We'll all be good friends, you'll see," Odd says, directing the last of his words more towards the krabe than to Jeremie.

"Just as long as you understand what you're getting us all into," Jeremie replies with a sigh.

"I guess if we are going to do this, we better do it fast. X.A.N.A. could swoop in and give us more trouble at any moment," Yumi says, looking almost worried about the monster for the first time.

"Alright, I'll begin the preparations. That is, if we're all in agreement," Jeremie says.

"Well, maybe this won't be as bad as it seems. It did risk itself to take a shot for Ulrich, after all," Yumi says.

"I really don't know about this, guys," Ulrich replies with a sigh and shakes his head. "Though I guess it could be pretty cool to have a krabe on our side," He adds, shrugging, thinking he must be nuts to agree but could not very well ignore the fact that the krabe did seem to want to help their cause.

"You guys really mean it? You're not pulling my leg are you?" Odd asks, thinking it had to be a trick or that he must have heard them wrong.

"Yeah, well at least your krabe ought to be more useful than William," Ulrich says spitefully.

"That's for sure!" Odd exclaims, laughing hysterically though Yumi rolls her eyes.

Aelita nods. "I think we're all more or less in agreement, Jeremie," She looks to Yumi who nods her confirmation then to Ulrich who sighs but nods as well. She did not have to get confirmation from Odd; he was the reason they were even considering this in the first place.

"Alright then it's settled. We're going to materialize a krabe," Jeremie says. "Wow, that certainly sounds weird hearing myself say that," He chuckles to himself. "There is one problem though; it's going to take awhile to actually get all the data calibrated properly."

"Uhhh. How long are you thinking, Einstein?" Odd asks nervously.

"I'm not sure; the materialization part is simple enough but X.A.N.A.'s monsters don't have a residual self-image avatar for a human form, obviously, so I'll have to create one for our krabe friend before we can bring it to Earth," Jeremie replies.

"So what's the problem? Just make the image thingy and we can all go home," Odd says.

"It's not that simple. First, I'll need to obtain the krabe's virtual DNA sequence code; or VNA, if you will. After that I will then need to apply it to the materialization program along with its memories to, hopefully, create a human avatar via the super computer's residual self-imaging program. It should work, theoretically that is," Jeremie says.

"Theoretically?" Odd asks, not liking Jeremie's lack of confidence.

"Well I've never done something like this before. I'll do the best I can but just getting that code is going to be a bit tricky; X.A.N.A. seems to have it pretty well encoded, but I might be able to hack it from here," Jeremie replies.

"Isn't that a bit invasive?" Odd asks, not sure how he feels about his friend being hacked into.

"I guess, but it's either that or your krabe has to stay here on Lyoko," Jeremie replies.

"Okay, okay. I get the picture," Odd says. Jeremie smirks a little. He knew his friend would see it his way and would do whatever needed to be done if he wanted to save the krabe. He begins typing and a window with a flood of coding begins compiling on the main monitor. The krabe jerks suddenly and growls shakily.

"Hey what's wrong with it?" Yumi asks, noticing the monster now shaking and thrashing about as though trying to throw an invisible enemy off its back.

"I just gained access to its internal mainframe so it must be reacting to me filtering through its data. The process shouldn't hurt it though since I'm only viewing its files and when I find what I need, I'll just copy it," Jeremie replies, hearing the krabe growling unhappily.

"Maybe its ticklish then," Aelita says with grin and the krabe soon seems to calm down making an almost sigh-like growl.

"Alright, I've got its VNA code now along with a few other things that may come in handy later," Jeremie says.

"And?" Odd asks, expectantly.

"And now is the part that might take awhile. The code needs to be compiled by the materialization program to generate the image we need, and the krabe's data is fairly complex so there's no telling how long it might take. It could take an hour, a day, even a week. Though it shouldn't take longer than that," Jeremie replies.

"She doesn't have that long, Jer," Odd replies disheartened. "One more shot from - Well anything and it's poof! Bye-bye, krabe. The coolest krabe in all Lyoko, gone, just like that," He adds desperately.

"And with the tower still active, there is no telling when X.A.N.A. might send in more monsters. I'm actually beginning to feel nervous with how quiet he's been so far," Aelita replies.

"I'm sorry, there isn't a whole lot I can do," Jeremie replies. "And I know, Aelita, I'm worried as well. He's probably not sending in so many monsters because we've been too focused on this krabe to do anything to stop him," He continues flatly.

"Well then, how about Aelita and I go on to the tower and get that taken care of while the boys stay here and protect the krabe. I'm fairly certain we won't be prying Odd away from it anytime soon anyway," Yumi replies.

"Good idea, that should give me enough time to create the krabe's human avatar and get a proper estimate on how long this all should take," Jeremie says. "The tower should be straight southwest about 50 kilometers."

"Roger that, Jeremie," Yumi replies and the two girls take off for the tower.

"Oh and Odd, there's something you should know," Jeremie starts. "With the condition that krabe is in, there's a high possibility it won't even make it through the process, likely from shock alone. Not to mention all the stress this will put on its already weakened body,"

"Yeah okay, but if we don't try, she will die for sure here on Lyoko," Odd replies, solemnly looking at the krabe that is now lying on the ground with is legs halfway tucked underneath it.

"Alright then," Jeremie replies as he gets to work.

"Great, so I'm stuck with krabe-sitting duty with Odd while the girls are off deactivating the tower… I still can't believe this," Ulrich grumbles, though the last bit he says with more of an air of awe and decides to sit down while he waits. He takes a look at Odd who is now sitting cross-legged in front of the krabe and has apparently decided to completely ignore him while giving the monster a 'run-down' of what to expect on Earth. The krabe gives Odd intermittent growls as though understanding him or perhaps just giving him some kind of confirmation that it hears him and is just trying to 'talk'.

"A boy and his krabe," Ulrich chuckles under his breath.

"…and ice-cream too. You'll love ice-cream. It's really cold, but it tastes sweet. Just watch out for brain freezes!" Odd laughs. "There's a whole lot more too. It'd be impossible to tell you all about it though; you're gonna have to see for yourself," he continues, completely engrossed in his 'storytelling'.

Suddenly the krabe begins to stir and stands up weakly. "Hey, what are you doing? I told you you're going to hurt yourself!" Odd says as he gets up and tries to steady the monster but it ignores him and struggles back a few steps in what seemed to be panic. Looking back, Odd notices Ulrich casually walking up behind him.

"Whoa, easy there, I'm unarmed. Well, sorta," Ulrich says to the krabe and points to his back where his weapons are sheathed then shows his palms to show that he had no intention to draw them. He figured the monster would soon be a part of their team so it might be best if he made amends with it beforehand. The krabe growls firmly to Ulrich and he stops but does not take his eyes off the monster, wondering if it was still feeling threatened and unsure what it might do if it did.

Odd heeds Ulrich's gesture and sighs comforted that he didn't seem like he was going to attack the krabe again. "So you finally decide to come and say hi, huh Ulrich?" he asks.

"That was the idea. But your pal there doesn't seem too fond of me," Ulrich replies, noting that the monster seemed to be nervous of his presence.

"What do you expect? You did try to kill her after all," Odd comments. "Twice I might add."

"Well, yeah that's true. Sorry about that," Ulrich says with a slight shrug.

"Apology accepted," Odd replies cheerily. "But you might want to tell her that," He adds, gesturing to the krabe which did not seem to have moved one bit. It was as if the monster was carefully considering the situation and wasn't about to let Ulrich out of its sight.

"Uhh, nice krabe," Ulrich says tentatively and raises a hand as though to touch the monster as he slowly walks up to it. The krabe tilts itself and growls an irritable warning to the boy and Odd grimaces fearfully. Quickly, Ulrich starts to reach for one of his swords but stops just short of drawing it.

"Hey, I'm sorry okay?" He says to the monster in front of him.

The krabe grunts a short reply then tilts itself forward as it reaches out towards Ulrich with its right claw. Instinctively, he begins to draw his sword and the krabe immediately stops and draws its claw back. The boy slowly lets go of his blade, allowing it to slip back into its sheath. Seeing the human let go of his weapon, the krabe slowly begins to reach forward again and lightly nudges him on the chest with the back of its claw.

"Oh wow," Ulrich responds, amazed that the monster didn't try to attack him and at how gentle it was capable of being.

"See, Ulrich? I told you she was pretty cool," Odd replies with a relieved sigh, though for a moment he honestly wasn't sure, but he wasn't about to admit that to Ulrich.

"Hey, have you thought to ask your friend if she—it wants to go to Earth? Or become human for that matter?" Ulrich asks after a moment, suddenly realizing they never considered the krabe's vote. He still wasn't even sure if he should consider the creature's 'gender' when speaking about it either.

"Uh… Well no... But I figure she understands. She's really smart, and I doubt she wants to stay here with X.A.N.A.; he's lousy company," Odd replies lightly, with a goofy grin.

"Maybe you should ask it or something before Jeremie gets done? I mean, what if it doesn't want to leave?" Ulrich asks. Odd becomes quiet and looks at his feet then back up to the krabe.

"So what do you think?" Odd asks, "You wanna come with us?" The krabe makes no response at first, but soon after gives a quiet rumble and flickers its far right light once.

"Uhh what does that mean? Yes? No? I don't know?" Odd asks, desperately trying to determine the answer he was given. "Wait! I know! How about you blink one light for no, and two lights for yes?" He says. The krabe just stares at him without a single response.

"I don't think it understands you," Ulrich says with a slight laugh.

"Well maybe she's still thinking. It is a big decision after all," Odd replies, trying to stay hopeful but almost afraid the krabe will decline. He waits several long minutes and still the krabe does not give a reply.

"Uh, hello? You in there?" he asks, impatiently goading the monster for a response. The krabe immediately reacts with a short growl and Odd just sighs.

"Yeah, 'rawr' back to you too buddy."

"What's this, an error?" Jeremie says, drawing Odd and Ulrich's attention to the sky above them, as a popup with a red symbol appears on his screen.

"Everything okay up there, Jeremie?" Ulrich asks.

"I'm not sure. The computer is giving me an error message. 'Error, target already has a designated self-image preset'," Jeremie reads aloud.

"Uhh, what does that mean in English?" Odd asks.

"It means the image can't be created because the computer thinks one already exists," Jeremie replies.

"Isn't that a good thing then? We don't have to wait now, right?" Odd asks excitedly.

"Um.. No. Not really," Jeremie replies.

"Why not?" Odd asks, his enthusiasm waning.

"Because I can't find this mysterious preset this message is referring to," Jeremie replies.

"Okay that doesn't exactly sound like good news," Odd replies, now starting to sound worried.

"Well.. No. Not for your krabe friend at least. If I can't create the image, and can't find the one the computer thinks is there. Then there will be no way I can materialize it," Jeremie says.

"How would a krabe already have a human form though?" Ulrich asks, noting what Jeremie said about a file possibly already being there.

"I don't know. And that's why I think it's a glitch. This may even have been part of X.A.N.A.'s plan," Jeremie says.

"Can't you just try the materialization program anyway? Maybe that file you mentioned is there, but you just can't access it," Odd suggests.

"Hmm. Alright, I guess it's worth a try. But I'll program a failsafe just in case. How it will work is when I set the parameters to materialize the krabe in human form, it will tell the computer that if the krabe can't be materialized as a human to cancel the process immediately. This way we don't end up with a broken scanner, or a mangled krabe," Jeremie replies.

**I decided this would be best uploaded in parts of 3 since there are so many words. Also, because I haven't had time recently to work on the second episode. Keep an eye out for the final part of this episode! I hope you enjoyed this part!**


	4. Ep 1 - A Strange Occurrence Part 3-3

"Alright then Jeremie, I'm ready when you are," Odd says, feeling a bit more confident.

"Well, I can't really do anything until the tower is deactivated. I'll check with the girls and see how they're doing," He says and presses a few keys, which transfers him over to the area Yumi and Aelita are in.

"Girls, How's that tower coming along?" He asks.

"We just got things wrapped up over here, Jeremie. X.A.N.A. had a welcoming committee of two tarantulas and three bloks waiting for us when we got here, but they're all history now and Aelita just entered the tower," Yumi says just as the tower's aura changes from red to its normal, neutral blue.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita's voice echoes through Jeremie's headset.

"Phew. Good work you two. Now we can relax," Jeremie says.

"So got a status update for us?" Yumi asks. Aelita quickly joins her near the base of the tower.

"Mmm hmm," Jeremie nods. "We've run into a bit of an issue, but we're just about ready to go ahead and try to materialize the krabe."

"What's the issue?" Aelita asks.

"I'll explain it later. First, I'm going to re-materialize all of you before I run this. I don't want to risk anything going wrong and any of you getting trapped on Lyoko if this somehow bugs up the scanners," Jeremie replies so that everyone can hear.

After hearing Jeremie's message, Odd smiles up at the krabe. "Don't worry, you'll be next and we'll all be waiting for you on the other side," He says, patting the monster on the claw and the boy soon disappears. The krabe growls and looks all around, seeming to be searching for where he had gone. The gang joins up in the lab and Jeremie confirms that everyone made it back.

"Alright, good. Now that we're all here, we can initiate the materialization program for the krabe," Jeremie says. His hands shake as he slowly begins to type out the commands.

"Is this really going to work?" Yumi asks, almost holding her breath.

"We're about to find out," Jeremie says. Everyone watches the screen intently and Odd even crosses his fingers. Jeremie shakily presses the final button and immediately a warning beep begins, accompanied by an error indicator on the screen.

"Oh no, you've got to be kidding!" Odd exclaims with rising panic.

"Great… I was afraid of that," Jeremie sighs. He types a few keys but the error persists.

"What went wrong? I thought you said you had everything ready?" Yumi asks.

"Well, not everything. The krabe still needed a human-self image in order to be materialized. That's what's causing the error," Jeremie replies, slumping in his chair.

"Weren't you going to do that?" Yumi asked.

"I tried. But the computer gave me an error saying one already exists and refused to create one," Jeremie replies. "I had hoped maybe the materialization program might find it regardless, but looks like I was either wrong or the file didn't actually exist after all," He adds, indicating that he thought it was obviously the latter that was the real issue.

"So that's the issue you were talking about earlier," Aelita replies and Jeremie nods in response to her.

"Yes and it's a good thing we had the failsafe I programmed. If I hadn't we'd have a broken scanner and a huge problem right now," Jeremie says then his expression changes as a thought suddenly hits him. "Oh I am so stupid! Of course! That's why it didn't work!" He exclaims.

"Mind filling in the rest of us, Jeremie?" Ulrich asks, noting that he was not being very clear what the issue was.

Jeremie nods. "Well, the krabe doesn't have a human avatar after all. What I didn't realize is, that when I used the krabe's VNA, I inadvertently told the program to create a new krabe form avatar. That's why the computer gave me the error. It already has that type of form, obviously, and the program baulked as to avoid the unnecessary action of creating something that already exists."

"So, can you fix the problem, Jeremie?" Yumi replies giving a glance over to Odd who seems to be sulking a little after the current turn of the conversation.

"Well, yes, maybe. It's a long shot, but if I can convert the krabe's VNA sequence code into a DNA sequence code, then the program might allow me to create the correct type of avatar," Jeremie explains.

"Then it will work?" Odd asks hopefully, but still had the obvious worry in his tone.

Jeremie adjusts his glasses. "Yes. However, it _is_ going to take time. The conversion alone will take at least a couple of hours as it is, if nothing goes wrong. Then I'll need to reinitialize it wi-"

"Yeah we get it, Jeremie. We don't need the full run-down again," Odd says, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, I'm trying here. I just need some time to figure it out. We'll get your krabe to Earth," Jeremie says, taken aback by Odd's brashness. "Provided that it manages to survive until then," He adds, almost acidic. A few pitiful sounding growls come across through the speakers.

"That's not very reassuring," Odd says, slumping with disappointment. "What if X.A.N.A. kills her before you can finish? What then, Jeremie?"

"It sounds kinda scared," Aelita says in reaction to the sounds the krabe is making, almost sounding like Odd just earlier.

"She's probably looking for us and wondering why we haven't brought her in yet," Odd says sadly.

"Unfortunately there's not much I can do about that," Jeremie replies and then presses some more keys on the keyboard. "What I _can_ do is plant a tracker on it. With this bit of extra coding, we'll be able to keep track of its location and well-being via a program on my laptop. As long as we continue to receive a response from the relay, I'll continue working on the program."

"Your tracker thing isn't gonna hurt her is it?" Odd asks.

"Of course not. I'm just adding a tiny string of code to its data matrix. It won't feel a thing," Jeremie replies reassuringly.

"Okay good," Odd replies.

"So what if it _does_ disappear before you're done?" Ulrich asks.

"Then there will be no reason to continue working on the program," Jeremie replies, matter-of-factly.

"That seems like a lot of work for something that might end up failing," Ulrich shakes his head.

"I agree. However, if there's the slightest chance that doing this might bring us closer to taking X.A.N.A. down or finding Aelita's father, then I'm willing to try," Jeremie says, giving a quick glance to Aelita. "As it is, we haven't gotten a single lead in well over a month."

"What if I stay on Lyoko and protect her while you work on your program, Jeremie?" Odd asks but quickly quiets when everyone's gazes fall on him.

"That's not going to be a good idea. If we're lucky, this could take just overnight, but it could take much longer. We won't be able to explain your absence that long either," Jeremie replies. Of course, he was right after all, but Odd could not help thinking of whatever he could to help his friend.

"Yeah, we're lucky today is Sunday so we don't have any classes, but someone is bound to notice if you're gone tomorrow," Aelita says.

"Besides, you don't want to miss your marathon tonight do you?" Ulrich asks snidely.

"My new friend is much more important than some silly horror marathon, Ulrich," Odd replies, acting almost as though he were insulted by Ulrich's implication. "Come on, you said yourself it could only take overnight if we're lucky. So I could stay on Lyoko until tomorrow morning," He finishes, practically begging.

"I never thought I'd see the day that you called your monster movies 'silly'," Ulrich replies, shocked.

Jeremie shakes his head. "We won't have time to come get you before classes start. Even if I do finish the calibrations tonight, we won't be able to try the program until at least lunch time."

"And you staying on Lyoko won't exactly keep X.A.N.A. from just deleting it," Ulrich says, not really thinking what he said might actually worry his friend more than actually help the situation.

"Guess you're right, I hadn't thought of that," Odd sighs in resignation and looks to the supercomputer, now noticing the growling from the krabe had stopped.

"Don't worry, as long as this tracker remains lit up. Your friend is still alright," Jeremie says, noticing his friend's concern and opens his laptop to show him the program he just finished transferring over from the supercomputer. A miniature, wire frame version of the desert sector displays on the screen with a red blip.

"Looks like it finally got the picture that we're not coming back right now and decided to stop wailing and howling like a lost puppy," Ulrich says, watching the blip in the program move around almost aimlessly as though searching for something.

"Don't worry? How can he tell me not to worry?" Odd grumbles just under his breath. "Fine. Let's get going then. The sooner we get back to school the sooner this day is over," He says, already heading for the elevator as he speaks. Jeremie shrugs and he and the others follow.

"Agreed. Besides, I'm sure my parents are probably wondering where I am since I never came home from the store earlier," Yumi says. "Which reminds me, I should probably pick up a few things before I go back."

"Alright, Yumi. We'll catch you later," Ulrich replies as the elevator stops and opens and they all go their separate ways with a wave. The walk back took longer that it usually did; at least it felt that way to everyone else anyway. The entire way back Odd kept asking Jeremie for status updates on the krabe almost literally every few minutes. Every time, of course, the answer was the same. The krabe appeared to be fine.

* * *

><p>"I swear Odd, if you keep asking me about that darn monster every five minutes, I'm going to clock you," Jeremie says irritably as they re-enter the campus grounds.<p>

"Sorry, Jer, I'm just worried that's all. You understand, right?" Odd replies, sulking a bit. He did feel bad for pestering his friend, but as far as he was concerned, the krabe was already a part of the gang. His mind was so absorbed that he did not even make a comment on how Jeremie would actually manage to follow up with his 'threat'.

"Well we've still got some time before dinner so I guess I'll head back to the dorms and get to work," Jeremie says, though he lacked any eagerness to do so due to Odd's constant pestering, but the boy did not seem to notice. However, he was eager to get some peace from the nagging and figured it'd be best to get started as soon as possible anyway.

"Wait, before you go-" Odd is cut off.

"No Odd, I'm not going to give you another status update," Jeremie emphasizes firmly to express just how annoyed he had become.

"Actually, that's not what I was going to ask," Odd replies.

"Then what is it?" Jeremie asks, looking to him expectantly.

"I was just going to ask if I can still borrow your laptop. You know, so I can watch the Hospital of Horrors marathon tonight?" Odd asks with his hands behind his back, hoping he hadn't annoyed his friend so much that he would no longer be willing to lend it to him.

Jeremie tilts his head and sighs. "Sorry, Odd, but I'm going to need it."

"What? But you said I could use it this morning!" Odd complains.

"Yeah, but that was before you asked me to save your krabe," Jeremie states plainly.

"Can't you use your desktop?" Odd asks, almost pleading at this point.

"I'm going to need both computers because while the super computer is running the data conversion I'll need one machine to keep tabs on that while the other I'll be using to create the program needed to materialize the krabe using the new code," Jeremie explains.

"Oh man you've got to be joking…I've gotta have something to do tonight or I'm gonna go crazy," Odd whines, unable to believe he might have to miss out on his marathon after all.

"I thought you said earlier that your friend was more important?" Ulrich replies.

"She is, but I still thought I was going to be able to watch my show too," Odd grumbles.

"Sorry buddy. Sometimes you've gotta make sacrifices," Ulrich chuckles as the four made their ways to the dorms.

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe we're doing this," Jeremie sighs as he opens the door to his room, followed shortly by Aelita.<p>

"You sound like you're having second thoughts," Aelita replies.

"It's not that exactly. It's just that this is going to take a lot of work and I hope it isn't going to be a big waste of time in the end," Jeremie replies. He sets up his laptop on the desk next to his desktop monitor and begins checking the progress of the conversion.

"But it's not like you have to do it alone, I'm here to help too you know," Aelita says.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Aelita, I appreciate that," Jeremie says. His response made the girl smile. "You know, this tracker I planted on the krabe has actually been rather interesting."

"Interesting in what way?" Aelita asks, genuinely curious to know what Jeremie's thoughts were.

"Well, despite how _annoying_ Odd was asking about it incessantly, it did allow me to see a constant progression of the monster's movements and I wonder if it might give us some kind of an edge to fighting X.A.N.A.," Jeremie says. "It hasn't really done anything beyond the usual thing you'd expect, but if anything it's somewhat fun to watch. The krabe has even already changed sectors. Right now, it's in the forest sector," He points to the screen on his laptop where a red indicator roamed the surface of the wire frame map of Lyoko.

"Do you think it's still searching for Odd?" Aelita giggles.

Jeremie chuckles. "No clue, honestly. It actually looks like its performing basic patrol routines."

"You know, it's rather strange. I wonder why X.A.N.A. didn't just outright delete the monster if he wanted it gone so badly? Instead, he sent two other monsters to attack it," Aelita replies.

"That's been puzzling me too. I am actually surprised it's still there. I figured X.A.N.A. would have deleted it by now," Jeremie says.

"Do you think it might have actually been a trap then, despite the fact the krabe never attacked?" Aelita asks. "I mean, if it was meant as a distraction, then why would it still act so docile after Yumi and I went on to the tower?"

"Not sure. Maybe it stayed there to hold Odd and Ulrich back while X.A.N.A. thought he could take care of you and Yumi with the other monsters?" Jeremie speculates.

"I guess that's possible, but William never showed up either," Aelita points out.

"You're right. It's not like our pal X.A.N.A. to hold back," Jeremie says. "Though I guess if my calibrations work then we just might get the chance to find out. If we turn that krabe human, we can ask it."

"I still don't know how I feel about that though. I mean, turning some random monster human? Doesn't that just seem rather extreme?" Aelita asks.

"I know. But considering how weird it was acting, this might be our only way we can get some valuable information," Jeremie replies.

"Yeah but wouldn't making some kind of translation program be a lot easier?" Aelita asks.

"Easier, maybe. But either way, it would still take time to program just as this will. And a translation program wouldn't give us the added benefit of keeping the krabe from being deleted or destroyed." Jeremie says.

"I guess that does sound like the safest option," Aelita replies, giving in a bit.

"And if it does go back to its master, since it wouldn't have been human to begin with, then we can act like nothing happened since we'll have complete control over the situation." Jeremie adds.

"We don't even know if this is going to work anyway," Aelita says.

"Exactly. So there's no sense worrying about any of that until we get there. We've got nothing to lose here," Jeremie says and turns his focus to his setup of two computers. The laptop is already set to run tabs on the conversion process and act as a remote access terminal to the super computer. He has the desktop ready to begin creating the program he needs to apply the converted code.

The two continue to work for the next hour or so but it seemed to go slowly and rather frustratingly. The code conversion kept stopping and giving errors, forcing Jeremie to adjust and re-launch the program. However, the program that would be used to apply the converted code appeared to be going fairly well. Although the simple tests they ran seemed to go through with no errors, it was impossible to tell if it would actually work when it came to using it on the krabe as it was all simulation and they didn't have the correct code to use in the tests.

After awhile, Jeremie becomes fully frustrated. He could not figure out why the code was not converting properly and the boy looks like he is just about ready to throw something against the wall, that is, if he were the violent type. Instead, he just hangs his head, sulking a bit. He didn't really care about the krabe, not like Odd did. He was really mostly just unhappy that he was unable to see his theory through.

He knew that if he couldn't figure it out, there would be no way to get the answers to all of his questions that he was so eager for. Not only that, but he would have to deal with Odd too if he failed. Aelita places her hand on his shoulder and tries to comfort him but it doesn't seem to help very much.

"You know, we don't have to finish this right now. It's almost time for dinner; maybe we should stop and get something to eat?" Aelita asks.

"No, I've got to get this done, the sooner the better," Jeremie replies, seeming to be determined to figure out the solution to this puzzle.

"Come on, it might help clear your head, and you've been wracking your brain on this non-stop since we got back," Aelita said, trying to persuade the boy to take a much needed brake but he just shook his head in response to her.

"Just go on without me. I'm sure I can figure this out," Jeremie says, waving for Aelita to leave.

"Alright then, but try to get some sleep tonight, okay?" Aelita says, knowing that she wouldn't be able to make it back to help him after dinner due to the school's curfew rules. She also knew all too well that Jeremie had the tendency to overwork himself when it came to anything Lyoko related. She just hoped he would listen to her and make sure he got some proper rest.

* * *

><p>After dinner Ulrich and Odd had settled into their room. Ulrich was attempting to study although the sound of Odd's video game, along with his enthusiastic shouting, was really grating on his nerves. He had not lied about the test he had the next morning, and all the noise was making it nearly impossible to study.<p>

"Don't you have some marathon to go watch?" Ulrich asks grouchily after finally deciding he had had more than enough of the sound of explosions of lasers and the electronic beeping of starships.

Odd abruptly pauses his game. "Huh? No, that doesn't start until seven. So it'll be just you and me until then,"

"Hmph. Great, lucky me," Ulrich replies sarcastically. "I really wish you'd leave me alone at some point tonight."

"Hey don't worry, I already got that all planned out so I can watch my show and leave you alone to your.. Uhhh studying," Odd says with a wink.

"What do you mean 'uhh studying'?" Ulrich asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I dunno. I thought 'studying' was some kind of code word to mean you were expecting a call from a certain lady," Odd says with extra emphasis on the last two words.

"I'm not expecting a call from anyone!" Ulrich replies, beginning to blush. "Besides, Yumi knows I actually have to study tonight," He mutters just quietly enough to avoid Odd hearing him.

"You can't seriously expect me to believe that can you? She's called you almost every night for at least the past two weeks," Odd replies crossing his arms. "I know it's Yumi. I can't imagine who else it could be. Cause I don't think it's Aelita; Einstein would blow a gasket, and I'm really hoping it's not Sissi!"

"Who says it's a girl huh?" Ulrich replies irritably, offended that Odd would even suggest Sissi, much less Aelita.

"Whoa! I didn't think you swung that way, good buddy!" Odd exclaims, though it was obvious he was joking just to get under his friend's skin.

I didn't mean it like that and you know it! I meant maybe I'm just having a nice chat with a good friend. Ever think of that?" Ulrich replies defensively, this time putting extra emphasis on the words 'good friend'. He felt this to be true enough as it was, though the stress of his wording only made Odd certain that he was right.

"Come on, who else could it be? What do you two talk about anyway, hmm? You see each other practically every day," Odd prods.

"It's none of your business what I say to her," Ulrich says.

"Huh, fine then. I'll just go watch my marathon while you sit in here by yourself being mister grumpy," Odd replies and crosses his arms as he heads for the door.

"Wait, how_ do _you plan to go watch it? Didn't Jeremie deny you his laptop?" Ulrich asks, forgetting about his bad mood long enough to sate his curiosity.

"Well, I was thinking; at this time of night, no one is using the rec room, right? So I should be able to have it all to myself," Odd replies.

"No one will be using the rec room because it's off limits after dinner," Ulrich points out.

"It's only off limits if I get caught," Odd replies, sounding all too confident that he won't.

"And you _will _get caught if Jim sees you in there," Ulrich adds though he knew it was useless to convince him of it otherwise.

"I'm not gonna get caught, you worry too much," Odd says with a wave and just walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

**And thus the conclusion to my first episode! Thanks so much for reading I hope you enjoyed it!**

** Please feel free to drop a review and let me know what you think of events so far, I LOVE hearing back from you guys!**

** I can't wait to show you guys what happens next! I promise it will be exciting! Just you wait! =D**


	5. Ep 2 - Prisoners Part 1-3

The cliffs and slopes of the mountain sector look like a blur as a krabe runs quickly past them. It dashes across a narrow outstretch of land that winds around the outside curve of yet another towering peak. The path and the krabe take a sharp left and it soon arrives at the end of another long stretch of land that gradually widens around the base of a tower where the monster stops. The krabe looks up and the tower's soothing blue aura changes into a menacing angry red color and the creature's vision abruptly blacks out. In the computer lab, a window appears on the terminal's main screen.

The popup reads; 'Turn super scan notifications off? Y/N'

* * *

><p>Ulrich groggily gets out of bed to the sound of Odd's loud snoring. He, for only a brief moment, contemplates kicking the boy awake in revenge for giving him so much hassle the night before but decides against it. The sun shines brightly through their window and he begins to review mentally the things he studied as he switches into his normal daytime clothes.<p>

He breathes deeply. The test he was preparing for was just right after breakfast. It wouldn't be long now and he prays to whatever grading gods that might exist that he might at least make a respectable score on the exam.

He looks again to the blonde still crashed out on his bed with the sheets all strewn about as though he might have had a fight with one of XANA's monsters while he slept. His dog, Kiwi, was also soundly curled up next to him. This was one of the few times Ulrich could actually stand the little dog. He wasn't barking, or scratching at the bed begging to be fed, nor trying to stick his nose in the electrical sockets.

He knew that would all change as soon as Odd woke up, but he wasn't going to willingly let his friend get in trouble for not showing up to his classes. Though what he chose to do after that was his own problem. He shakes the boy vigorously, trying to rip him away from his dreams.

"No way...I don't ca..re.. No matt..r how man..y t..mes you ask, I won't do th.. Macarena wit… a group of kankrelats," Odd mumbles into his pillow, obviously still half asleep despite Ulrich's roughness. Ulrich couldn't help but laugh at Odd's half-dreaming comment. His sudden laughter was enough to jolt the boy awake and startle Kiwi as well who barks at him a few times.

"Hey, I don't know what the gag is, but do you mind finding it funny a little quieter? A guy's gotta get some sleep here," Odd says, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

Ulrich snickers residually from his outburst before replying, "Oh I dunno, something about doing the Macarena with kankrelats?"

Somewhat embarrassed, Odd is just about to respond when the two boys hear a commotion in the hall outside their room.

"I wonder what that's all about," Ulrich says as he quickly reaches for the door and peeks out. In one of the rooms just down the hall, Jim, their physical education teacher, could be heard shouting indistinguishably. Shortly after, the man walks out of the room carrying a hissing, flailing tabby by the scruff of its neck.

"Pets are strictly prohibited on the campus grounds, you ought to know that!" The large man shouts, holding the cat out at arms length to avoid being slashed by the angry animal's lashing claws.

"Aww geez.. Surprise dorm inspection. And this right here is exactly the reason why I said not to turn your krabe into a pet." Ulrich says.

"Oh please, Jim! Please don't take her away, she's just gotta stay here unti-" The dark-haired boy down the hall pleads desperately.

"Now that's enough of that, mister Larue. Rules are made to be followed. They're for your own good and the good of well everyone.. An animal could hurt someone, or they could be allergi-" He sneezes a few times.

"I mean.. A person could be allergi" He sneezes again then sniffles. "-to the cat, not the animal being allergic to itself. There would be no reason to make a rule banning animals from the building if they were allergic to each other because.. They're.. Not allowed in the first place," He continues and sneezes again then wipes his nose with his sleeve opposite of the arm he is restraining the feline with.

"That's right! The krabe!" Odd exclaims, only really catching on to Ulrich's comment about the monster.

"I don't believe this, you actually forgot about it didn't you?" Ulrich asks, raising an eyebrow at his friend while still peeking out the doorway to keep tabs on Jim's position.

"Well, no... Of course not! Okay maybe... But I just woke up, I don't usually think this early in the day," Odd replies in his defense.

"Well you might wanna start, Jim is headed this way and you've gotta get Kiwi out of here before he notices him," Ulrich replies.

"Oh this is so not my day," Odd complains. Kiwi climbs onto Odd's lap and licks his hand to comfort him, sensing the boy's stress. "Hey there my little diggitey-dog, you ready to go for a little walk?" Kiwi eagerly barks a few times at the sound of the word "walk".

"Hey, get him to keep it down else Jim is going to notice him for sure," Ulrich says in a hushed tone.

Odd presses his index finger against his lips and makes a 'shh' sound and Kiwi quiets down but continues to whimper in his excitement. He grabs up his bag and motions for his dog to get inside and he hops in, right on cue. Odd carefully pulls the drawstring of the bag to conceal the dog, but leaves just enough room for the animal to get plenty of air and to not feel too trapped. Kiwi struggles slightly, seeming to be somewhat uncomfortable.

"Calm down, Kiwi. You'll get to run around as much as you want in just a few minutes I promise," Odd says but the dog still rustles around. Still at the door, Ulrich motions for Odd to make a move.

"Alright, go!" Ulrich shouts quietly, and opens the door wider to allow Odd to get out. Odd sees that Jim is still preoccupied with the cat and takes his chance to head for the door at the end of the hall.

"Della Robbia!" A deep commanding voice reaches the short blonde from across the hall and he freezes in his tracks. He turns around timidly to see the PE coach staring him down.

"Oh! Uhh, hey there Jim! I didn't see ya there," Odd says nervously and lightly elbows his bag to hopefully give to the dog hidden inside the hint to stay quiet but instead Kiwi gives off a sharp yelp.

"Uh huh. Didn't you know its dorm inspection day today?" Jim asks as he walks up, still holding the same cat from moments ago which now seems to have given up its fight for the time being.

"Oh really? Is that what today is? I'd have never guessed. Go figure, huh?" Odd replies in a casual tone.

"You know, Della Robbia, it never ceases to_ not_ amaze me just how forgetful you always are," Jim replies then turns his attention to the boy's bag. "Just what are you trying to hide in there anyway? I swear I woulda just heard it make sounds a moment ago,"

"Actually, that was me Jim, I stubbed my toe this morning and it still hurts a little bit," Odd lies.

"Oh, well maybe I should take a look at it. I'm pretty good at first aid,-"

"Oh no, that's okay Jim, I'm fine really. I'm just gonna go take my bag out for a walk now, I mean I'm gonna go out for a walk... With my bag," Odd replies, quickly interrupting Jim.

"Oh no, you're not gonna fool me that easily, you must think I'm dumb or something. You're already on thin ice for sneaking into the rec room last night so I'm not going to ask you again; now hand it over," The PE teacher demands firmly and quickly reaches for Odd's bag and the boy holds it behind him as far as possible to keep it out of his reach.

Jim swiftly reaches out and manages to catch hold of one of the straps, dragging the boy closer despite his struggle against him. As he does so, the cat tenses up and begins to squirm as the bag is pulled closer. It hisses and finally manages to wrench itself away from the fat man holding it hostage by scratching him across the back of his wrist.

"Ouch! Hey come back here!" Jim shouts at the rapidly fleeing feline although it was not enough to make him forget about Odd. "Great, I'm gonna get an earful from Mr. Delmas if I don't get that mangy feline under control…" He straightens himself and notices Ulrich peeking out the door.

"Stern! Della Robbia! You two stay right here and don't you dare even think about moving a muscle until I get back!" He commands gruffly. He looked to be trying to keep himself together but it was pretty obvious he felt embarrassed that the cat had gotten the better of him in front of others. He leaves in a huff to try to redeem his composure away from the two boys.

The moment Odd lost visual on Jim he starts to head back towards the door.

"Hey come on, Jim told us both to stay here, you can't just leave me here to deal with dorm inspection by myself," Ulrich says, now standing in the doorway.

"I'd love to stay and help you but I gotta get Kiwi out of here while I've got the chance, remember?" Odd replies confidently, knowing he had the perfect legitimate excuse to not have to stay.

"Aww of course... And to think I almost forgot... You know, we wouldn't even be in this situation if you didn't insist on having that mutt here," Ulrich says.

"Kiwi is not a mutt! He's a purebred!" Odd replies hotly.

"Yeah sure, a purebred pain in the rear end!" Ulrich replies. "You're lucky Jim found that cat. If it hadn't run off, he'd have found that dumb dog of yours for sure."

"Yeah, whatever. Thanks to him I don't have to be here, so good luck with dorm inspection," Odd replies rather irritably and leaves down the hall.

* * *

><p>Just outside, Odd is relaxing in the shade of a tree while Kiwi is enjoying the fresh air and no longer being cooped up in the bag. Kiwi barks happily and wags his tail excitably as Ulrich soon enough walks across the courtyard towards them.<p>

"Oh hey, Ulrich. So how'd it all go? Jim doesn't suspect anything does he?" Odd asks worriedly.

"It went well enough I guess. Jim was mad that you took off but he seemed to get over it pretty quick. Only there is one problem, he found the dog food and toys you keep for Kiwi," Ulrich replies.

"Aww no! So what did you say? You did cover for me right?" Odd asks, praying that he had not been ratted out by his friend.

"Well, yeah, sorta," Ulrich replies, reluctant to elaborate.

"What do you mean sorta?" Odd asks uneasily. Ulrich thinks for a moment before responding. He really was not sure how to exactly tell him what happened.

"Well thing is, in order to convince Jim that you weren't keeping a dog in your room, I kinda had to tell him that you have a weird fixation with eating dog food and playing with squeaky toys," He finally says, now looking away from Odd's growing furious expression.

"You did what? If that gets out I'm going to sound like a complete lunatic!" Odd exclaims.

"Hey, this is your fault! It was either that or confess to Jim that you were breaking school rules and getting your dog taken away," Ulrich defends. "Besides, I really doubt Jim will say anything to anyone important anyway. When I told him he just mumbled something about late night movies and walked out."

"You better hope not, for your own sake," Odd sighs. He looks down at Kiwi who yips and sits down at his feet.

"Yeah well just think of all the trouble this would have been if we had turned your krabe friend into an animal," Ulrich points out.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Speaking of which, I wonder how she's doing. Jeremie hasn't given me an update this morning," Odd replies.

"Knowing him; probably asleep at his keyboard. Either way I'm sure he was tired of you bugging him and didn't feel like bothering with giving you a status report," Ulrich says. "By the way, I noticed you keep just calling it "she" and "her". What gives? You usually come up with some kind of dumb name for them."

"Huh, you know? I never really thought about it. I suppose it's just that this is more important this time. I can't just throw out a random name like that. This time it really matters, so I'll just have to think of a really good one," Odd says now scrunching his eyebrows into his 'thinking face'.

"Better think fast then. If Jeremie is the genius we all know him to be, we might just have a krabe friend by lunch time," Ulrich chuckles.

"Hmm, Okay I got it! How about Arletta? No, wait… That was the girl who got her arms sawed off and replaced with giant chicken wings… Oh or Reita! That one's perfect!" He thinks a moment. "Oh right, no, she was turned into a slug… Or or… Idell.. Aggh but she had that prototype elixir injected in her and grew a second head…" He finishes, mumbling to himself.

"Lemme guess, Hospital of Horrors?" Ulrich asks, disturbed by Odd's commentary on each name he declined as soon as he mentioned them.

"Yeah, I've still got it stuck in my head since last night. Seems that every name I think of was one of the girls that Dr. Shrank experimented on… But boy, was that some entertainment," Odd admits with a half-daydreaming grin. "Well, until Jim the fun police came to ruin it,"

Ulrich shakes his head. "I knew you were going to get caught. But did you listen to good ol, Ulrich? No," He says with an expression that says 'I told you so'.

"Well I had to do something since Jeremie was being so stingy with his computer," Odd protests.

"Or you could have just sucked it up and not watch your dumb show," Ulrich replies.

"Not watch Hospital of Horrors? Are you crazy? You're joking right?" Odd asks with a look of almost genuine trauma.

"No, I'm not. I have better things to do than watch lame, half-baked horror shows. Such as studying for the test we have in about forty five minutes," Ulrich says.

"Studying shmudying! That just shows how much of a witless dilettante you are! Do you know what that means, Ulrich? It means you, my friend, are boring!" Odd exclaims.

"I'm not boring, I'm just - Sensible," Ulrich defends.

"Ah! Another word for booooring!" Odd jokes, mocking him further. "Since when did you turn into a good student?"

"Then we'll see just who will be laughing when the test results come back, then shall we?" Ulrich smirks.

"You're on! But don't come crying when-" Odd starts but stops as he stares across the courtyard at a young girl with short orange hair and round glasses who has undeniably caught the boy's attention. "Speaking of girls names a moment ago, I wonder what hers is."

"You're seriously going to go ask her out?" Ulrich asks. He wasn't surprised one bit. Odd acted like this with every new girl he met.

"Well I'm certainly going to at least ask for her number," Odd replies.

"She's not even that pretty," Ulrich retorts, feeling as though his friend must be getting desperate.

"Not like Yumi, you mean?" Odd teases with a chuckle.

"Hey, knock it off, I've had enough from you about that last night," Ulrich snaps. "Besides, that girl looks like a dork anyway; I bet she'd be perfect for you." He continues snidely.

"I don't think she looks dorky at all. I'm definitely digging that tomboy vibe of hers," Odd says. They were both right in a way. The girl wasn't very 'girly' looking. In addition to her super short haircut and round glasses, her clothing was very fall-like. She wore a muted red orange hoodie with deep brown sleeves, pants, shoes and half finger gloves.

"That sounds like another way of saying 'desperate'," Ulrich pokes back.

"Well I'm going to go talk to her, so what do you say to being my wingman and taking Kiwi back to our room for me?" Odd asks, already almost begging.

"You want me to do you a favor after what happened this morning?" Ulrich asks, not in the least bit amused.

"Please? You'd be the best buddy ever," Odd pleads.

"No," Ulrich says, shortly and firmly.

"Pleeeeeaaaassssee?" Odd begs again.

"Okay! Fine... But again, this is exactly why I said no pets," Ulrich replies, begrudgingly, poking a finger into Odd's chest.

"Sweet! Thanks good buddy! I owe you one!" Odd calls out as he instantly walks away.

"Yeah you bet you do," Ulrich mumbles irritably as Odd leaves him behind with Kiwi. The little dog looks at him expectantly and barks then licks the leg of his pants. "Uggh yuck, come on you dumb dog, let's go," He says and ushers him away on his leash.

Before approaching the girl, Odd watches her for a moment. He could tell she was obviously new to Kadic. For one thing he did not recognize her, and if he did not know a girl at school then she had to be a new student. The girl looks around her, taking in the in the scene. She does not seem to notice Odd. There were, in fact, a lot of students around but none of them seemed to pay her any mind, nor did she seem to mind them either.

Odd takes a moment to ensure that he looks presentable then strides up behind the girl and taps her on the shoulder. She wheels around quickly to the sight of the blonde boy putting on his best smile for her. The corners of her mouth stretch into a smile; she seems genuinely happy to see him. Her smile soon fades and her expression turns straight-faced.

Odd clears his throat, "You must be new here; my name is Odd Della Robbia!" He begins with a tone sounding about as over confident and cocky as he thinks of himself as charismatic and charming.

When the girl does not respond to him he continues, "So what might this lovely lady's name be?" He asks, prompting her for an answer.

The girl blinks then smiles slightly. "My name is Lynn," She replies simply in a soft, low-toned voice.

"Oh, Lynn! Aww now that name woulda been perfect for her..." Odd says in response but more to himself then remembers that the girl is still standing right there.

"Excuse me?" The girl asks.

"Oh, I mean that's a beautiful name! A beautiful name for a beautiful girl like yourself," He continues. Despite his over-the-top charade, the girl remains remarkably composed and well mannered.

"It is very nice to meet you, Odd," The spectacled girl replies.

"So Lynn, wait, Lynn what? Aren't you going to tell me your last name?" Odd asks.

"My surname is not important. There is no need to be so formal, you can just call me Lynn," She replies with another slight smile that seemed almost strained.

"You are so totally right. Wow, you're pretty and smart!" Odd laughs. It hardly even mattered what the girl said at this point; her voice was an enchanting melody to his ears. This time it was real, he had finally found his soul mate, he was sure of it.

The two continue to talk, or should I say mostly Odd talks while the girl just listens and gives short intermittent responses. Odd did not seem to mind how quiet she was, he was flipped over her and delighted to speak to a girl that did not run off after only a couple of minutes with him.

Across the courtyard from the two, Ulrich meets up at the vending machines with Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremie who happily greet their comrade.

"It's first thing in the morning and you already look like you're a member of the living dead," Aelita says, noticing Ulrich's glum expression and listlessness.

"Do NOT even go there with me about that," Ulrich grumbles.

"Sounds like you're having a pretty rough morning," Yumi replies.

"You could say that. All I will say is surprise dorm inspection plus Kiwi is not my preferred way to start off my day," Ulrich says.

"Yech, I'll pass on that one any day," Yumi replies, sympathizing with him.

"So, Yumi, were your parents mad when you got home?" Ulrich asks. He needed to get his mind off of that morning otherwise he was going to lose his cool.

"Mad? That's the understatement of the year. They were furious. They got so worried when I didn't come home right away that my mom called the police," Yumi replies.

"The police? Seriously?" Ulrich asks with a look of shock.

"Yeah, but they told her they couldn't start a search until I was gone for at least 24 hours, so luckily there wasn't a big scene yet. But it sure didn't stop my parents from giving me one heck of a lecture," Yumi says.

"You weren't even gone more than a few hours, though," Aelita says.

"Yeah, try telling them that. I tried to explain that to them myself, but they wouldn't hear anything of it. Apparently they freaked out when I didn't answer my phone and they asked how it could possibly take hours just to pick up just a few things at the store. So I tried telling them I was debating price over quality and that's why it took so long," Yumi says.

"Did they buy it?" Aelita asks.

"Not a chance. They demanded to know what I was _really_ doing so I had to tell them I was hanging with friends for awhile and lost track of time. That really didn't make them too happy, especially because I lied about it. The rest of the evening was really tense. On top of that they want me home early tonight too," Yumi says.

"Again?" Ulrich asks, not surprised in the slightest.

"Yeah, I don't think they're going to tolerate any 'mischief', as they put it, for awhile," Yumi sighs.

"Speaking of mischief, Odd seems to have found himself a new victim," Ulrich says pointing out the boy and the girl still talking.

"Oh, this is great!" Jeremie exclaims causing his friends to all turn their attention to him.

"Great? Since when do you care about Odd's love life?" Yumi asks with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well of course I don't! But if he's interested in a girl then maybe he's forgotten about that krabe," Jeremie replies.

"Sorry Jeremie, No chance of that. I think he's even picked out a name for it," Ulrich replies.

"Besides, why did you hope that he'd forget about it? Did your code thingy not work or something?" Yumi asks but both Jeremie and Aelita seemed reluctant to answer.

"Well, now that you mention it, yes, there is that. I was able to finish the 'transform' program, as I call it. But as it turns out, after extensive research and trials, Aelita and I have discovered that it's actually impossible to convert a VNA code into a DNA sequence. Without that code, I can't create the new avatar and therefore the transform program will be completely useless," Jeremie admits.

"Yeah and that also means that if I hadn't been human to begin with, we could have never brought me to Earth," Aelita says a touch sadly.

"But you are, and you're here with us now," Jeremie says, clearing away the shred of sadness that had crept over the girl.

"You're right. Thanks Jeremie," She says appreciatively.

"At least there's a bright side, since that also means XANA could never turn his armies of monsters human and send them to Earth, right?" Yumi asks, assuming she understood correctly.

"That's right," Jeremie confirms.

"Okay, so what's plan B then?" Yumi asks.

"Actually, there isn't one," Aelita adds in.

"What do you mean?" Ulrich asks.

"Well, you see, the problem doesn't only lie in the fact that the code can't be converted but rather in the fact that even if we had the code, we have no target," Jeremie starts but hesitates before elaborating further. When Aelita gives him a head nod for him to continue he sighs.

"What I mean to say is; my tracking program lost the krabe at precisely 6:45 this morning. It's gone," Jeremie replies, casting a glance over at Odd and the new girl he is flirting with. The other blonde currently seemed to be in such a good mood and he regretted the fact he would soon have to tell him what happened.

* * *

><p><strong>Woot! I finally have an update for you guys! Life totally did not want to give me time to work on this the past 3 weeks so the next update might take just as long depending on how much time I get to work on it. Either way, I sure hope you guys enjoy this. Hopefully it will be worth the wait. ^-^<strong>

**I'm predicting this episode to be in 3 parts as before. Mostly due to the fact I do wish to aim for another 11-13k words for this one as well.**

**Anywho, thanks so much for reading this chapter! Please keep tuned for the next part!**


End file.
